Updated September 9, 2016 at 7:22 PM;Posted August 31, 2016 at 8:02 AM

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Even the updated reports do not reflect what exactly the Alabama Lenders Association spent on public officials attending its conferences. While the updated reports itemize lodging and meals, they also include line items for unnamed activities in which lawmakers might or might not have taken part.
(Beau Rivage)

In June, AL.com reported how a special interest group for community lenders used a loophole in the state's ethics laws to host more than a dozen lawmakers at its annual conference at the posh Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C.

However, that wasn't the only such trip.

Since AL.com reported that story, the Alabama Lenders Association has amended its last two years' of lobbying activity reports with the Alabama Ethics Commission to include two more such trips.

Previously, the organization had filed inaccurate reports with the Commission that reflected no such spending.

Intentionally filing an inaccurate report with the Commission is a Class A misdemeanor, Ethics Commission Director Tom Albritton said.

The amended reports now show that the Alabama Lenders Association hosted two other trips in the last three years -- one to the Beau Rivage resort and casino in Biloxi, Miss., and another to the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Ala. -- where the organization paid for lodging, meals and entertainment for numerous lawmakers and other public officials.

According to the disclosures, those attendees included the then-chairman of the Ethics Commission, Ed Crowell.

Further, records obtained through public information requests show that the Alabama Lenders Association hosted similar events in earlier years. However, the organization did not submit reports for those trips because it had not registered as a principal, the legal term for a group or individual who employs a lobbyist. Because the organization had not registered as a principal and did not submit lobbying reports, it is impossible to tell which lawmakers it invited on those trips and how much it spent on them.

Also, correspondence between the Commission and the Alabama Lenders Association shows that the Commission director, Albritton, specifically forbade the group from paying for golf and fishing as part of the hospitality it provided lawmakers and other public officials. However, the Alabama Lenders Association's subsequent reports show that it paid for undisclosed daily entertainment activities costing $100 or more for each public official.

There the Alabama Lenders Association paid $198.94 a night for each of them to stay two nights in Biloxi. They also paid $158.00 each per day for food, and also for "activities" which cost $100 per person, per event, but the organization did not keep track of who participated in these activities, nor did it specify what those activities were. Lawmakers were also allowed to bring their spouses along to these events, but there are no records to indicate who attended with the lawmakers.

The report says Rep. Isaac Whorton, R-Valley, attended; however, Whorton says he was invited but didn't go on the trip.

There the Alabama Lenders Association paid $314.50 a night for each of them to stay two nights in Point Clear. They also paid $232.80 each for food per day, and also they paid for "activities" which cost $100 per person, per event, but the organization did not keep track of who participated in these activities, nor did it specify what those activities were. Lawmakers were also allowed to bring their spouses along to these events, but there are no records to indicate who attended with the lawmakers.

And that's only the lawmakers. Frank Caskey, who works as an analyst in the Legislative Reference Service, the State House department that helps lawmakers draft bills, attended the Alabama Lenders' conference for at least the last three years, according to the organization's amended filings.

In 2014 and 2015, Brig. Gen. Ed Crowell (Ret.) also attended. Until a little more than a year ago, Crowell was the chairman of the Alabama Ethics Commission.

The updated disclosures erroneously show the current Ethics Commission chairman, Fielding, attended in 2014. However, Fielding has offered AL.com proof that he was, in fact, in Texas at the time of the conference.

Alabama Lenders Association Director Maurice Shevin says he compiled the lobbying activity reports from a list of those who replied to invitations, saying they would attend the conference, and that it's possible he made mistakes.

"They would have responded that they were coming and that is how they would have gotten on there," Shevin said after Fielding and Whorton denied they were on the trips.

"From there, they certainly could have canceled or been a no-show and I would have put them on the report out of an abundance of caution," Shevin said. "But I would believe them if they said they weren't there."

AL.com has since confirmed that most of the other attendees were at the conferences. Rep. Craig Ford and Rep. Oliver Robinson could not be reached to confirm their attendance despite multiple phone calls, voicemails, text messages and emails to each.

Amended filings revealed

AL.com initially requested the Alabama Lenders Association's lobbying activity reports from the Ethics Commission in June. The commission provided reports that did not reflect any spending in 2014 or 2015. Alabama law requires lobbyists and those who hire lobbyists to report when either spends more than $250 on a public official in a single day.

Emails obtained through a public records request show that after those initial inquiries, a Commission employee asked the Alabama Lenders Association whether its lobbying activity reports were accurate.

The Commission then allowed the Alabama Lenders Association to amend its inaccurate lobbying disclosures.

After the Alabama Lenders Association updated those reports, the Commission did not inform AL.com that the earlier reports had been inaccurate or incomplete, even when asked directly whether changes had been made.

Only a later query to the Commission revealed that the reports had been amended. AL.com then requested all correspondence between the Alabama Lenders Association and the Commission, which revealed how the changes had occurred.

"Your questions prompted me to ask my staff to verify whether the filings were accurate and their response after looking was that they couldn't tell," Albritton said by email Tuesday. "Frankly, armed with that knowledge I felt I'd be derelict in my duty if I didn't follow up on your concerns and investigate."

This story was edited Sept. 9, 2016, to reflect that Fielding and Whorton were not at the conferences, despite being included on the lobbying activity reports. Fielding offered AL.com a photo showing he was in Texas at the time, and Whorton said he had been with his son at the Dixie Youth baseball playoffs.